Oracles of Leo the Wise

The Oracles of Leo the Wise (Greek Tou sophōtatou basileōs Leontos chrēsmoi; Latin Oracula Leonis or Vaticinia Leonis) is a Greek collection of oracles attributed to the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise (886–912). In actuality, the collection was first put together in the twelfth century by an anonymous editor probably working in Constantinople.^[1]

At the core of the collection are six oracles composed shortly after 815. A further four oracles were added to the collection after the sack of Constantinople in 1204. The numbering of the oracles varies between manuscripts. These ten form the first part and are vaticinia ex eventu, records of past events written as prophecy. The five oracles in the second part are actual prophecies.^[1] This set of fifteen or sixteen oracles is mostly written in iambic verse in a high register of Greek.^[2] Oracles 10 and 11 are in prose.^[3] A second set of seven longer poems in popular Greek was attached to the collection probably in the fourteenth century.^[4] Some of these later poems date to the thirteenth century.^[5]